Locking mechanism for mining-car doors



(No Model.)

J. H. WATT. LOCKING MECHANISM FOR MINING GAR DOORS.

No. 601,538. Patented Mar. 29 18-98.

Nirn TA'rns ATENT ,FFICE LOCKING MECHANISM FOR MINING-CAR DOORS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent NO. 601,538, dated March 29, 1898.

Application filed-December 8, 1897. Serial No. 661,188. (No model.)

useful Improvements in Locking Mechanism for Mining-Oar Doors; and I hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form part of this specification.

This invention is an improvement in mining-cars: and has especial reference to-the means for locking the latch when the car doors or sides are closed and for automatically releasing the latch, so that the car doors or sides can open when the car reaches the dump or place where the load is to be discharged.

The invention therefore consists in the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a perspective view of a car and the means for automatically releasing the door-latch thereof. Fig. 2 is a detail end elevation of the car, showing the parts locked in full lines and in position to be automatically tripped by means of dotted lines.

Referring to the drawings, A designates an ordinary mining-car which preferably has a swinging end-gate B, to which is pivoted a lever O, the lower end of which, below the pivot c thereof,is bent, as shown, and forms a latch D, adapted to engage a catch d (at tached to the end of the car beside the drawbar) when the upper end of lever C is swung to the right, as shown in Fig. 2, the end-gate firmly closed.

WVhen lever O is thrown to the left, the latchD is disengaged from the catch dand the end-gate is free and can swing open and disthus locking charge the load. The lever 0 may be guided bya loop B, attached to gate B, as shown in the drawings.

To the upper end of lever O is pivotally connected a rod'E, which when turned over to the left in horizontal position, as shownin full lines, Fig. 2, is supported in abracket- I),

attached to the end-gate, while its end drops behind a stop-lug E, also fixed to the end gate, so that by means of said rod and lug E lever'O is locked and the latch held positively closed.

When it is desired to release the-latch, rod E must be raised clear of lug E. It can then be thrown over to the right, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 2, and supported by lever O and a bracket 12, attached to the end-gate. In this position, while the latch D still engages catch 0?, the end of rod E projects beyond the side of the car, so as to be adapted to engage with a fixed cam or incline F, arranged beside the track at a point where the car is to be dumped, the cam F being so inclined that as the car moves past it the rod is thereby forced inward until it assumes the position shown in the drawings, and this inward movement of the rod turns lever O on its pivot and its latch D out of engagement with catch d, thus automatically releasing the endgate and allowing the car to automatically discharge its contents. The rod E thus serves both as a means for positively locking the latch and as a means for causing the automatic release thereof.

The cam F can be located at any point beside the track where it is desired to have the car dumped, and it may be supported on posts f or in any other suitable manner.

The operation of the invention will be clearly understood from the drawings.

The lever O and rod E may be utilized to operate other forms than those shown and can be used whether the end-gates or the sides of the car open.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that I have asimple and efiective means for opening the car-door automatically and an effective and simple fastening therefor, as the locking device effectively prevents the casual disengagement of the latch while the car is in transit in the mine. The rod E may be adjusted into position, so as to lock the latch before going into the mine, or may be fastened by the miner before loading, as it is 5 only a matter of half a moment to fasten it wherever it is done, and when the car comes to a standstill at the end of the tipple, as each and every car will necessarily do, a boy may come along and raise the rod from the position shown in full lines in Fig. 2 and throw it over to the position shown in dotted lines in the same figure, the cam F being so located that when the car reaches the point for unloading the end of rod E strikes the cam, which, as the car moves onward, forces the .rod inward and releases the latch, allowing the end-gate to automatically open.

Having thus described my invention, what I therefore claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent thereon, is

1. The combination with the latch-operating lever of a car, of a rod pivoted to said lever adapted when adjusted in one position after the latch is locked, to project beyond the side of the car; and a cam fixed beside the track adapted to engage said rod and move it inward, so as to cause said lever to JAMES H. WATT.

Witnesses:

N. B. HUTTON, C. J. HOWARD. 

